Which fighters from the new crop of Contender Series signees are the best?
On Tuesday, Season 10 of Contender Series wrapped up, with 46 new UFC signings joining the world’s biggest MMA promotion, some of whom have already gotten their first UFC action. Contender Series is the biggest tool the UFC has for recruiting new talent, and the men and women signed this season may end up becoming the new faces of the promotion, so let’s rank them.
I’ve separated all 46 prospects into one of five buckets based on their potential, using a simple Star Rating system to grade them.
- Five Star: Elite prospects. These fighters are the cream of the crop, with the potential to be perennial top 15 fighters and fight for or win a title.
- Four Star: Great prospects. These are prospects with lots of potential, but are maybe missing that extra something that makes them true blue-chip prospects. These fighters are threats to make it to the top 15, but maybe not fight for a title.
- Three Star: Good prospects. These fighters are good, but maybe not likely to make it to the top 15 of a division. But with the right breaks or serious improvement, perhaps they will, and they can nevertheless contribute in the UFC, potentially for years to come.
- Two Star: Standard prospects. These are fighters who earned their spot in the UFC, but it would be surprising if they made the Ttop 15 ever.
- One Star: Prospects In Name Only. These fighters compete and do their best, but are unlikely to make any major impact on the UFC.
So without further ado, let’s break down the 2026 Contender Series prospect class!
One Star
Adama Diop, Alex Apodaca, Alik Lorenz, Greg Foster, Joe Kropschot, Taner Trembley, Tom Pagliarulo, Trent Miller
By definition, the lowest tier is the least, which isn’t to say that these fighters don’t deserve to be here. Each of them put on a good performance to earn Dana White’s favor and their spot in the UFC. Despite that, each of these fighters has one or more huge flaws that prevent them from having a promising future, and almost all of them are prohibitively old.
Alex Apodaca scored one of the biggest upsets in MMA history by beating Bella Mir in Week 3, but she’s 32 years old, has five professional fights, and simply isn’t great. MMA is a young person’s game, and by the time she gets the necessary experience and actually levels up as a fighter, if that even happens, she’s already past her window.
Same for someone like Greg Foster, who put on a thrilling performance against Jason Asher on Week 10, fighting like an older, less athletic Tommy McMillen. But McMillen is 28 (and I didn’t rate him highly either), while Foster is 34. He simply doesn’t have a lot of time to make a splash.
If I had to choose one fighter to overachieve from this group, it would probably be Tom Pagliarulo, who fights a bit like his teammate Cory Sandhagen. He’s not much of an athletic specimen, but he seems to have a good mind for fighting, and at only 29, he could potentially make a run.
Two Stars
Adam Livingston, Cristian Perez, Gabriel Lorenco, Guilherme Uriel, Ian Escuza, Kaik Brito, Luis Francischinelli, Luis Hernandez, Preston LaGrange, Roman Puga
This is a group of tweeners. Many of these prospects are either unremarkable talents who are young enough to maybe show something, or older fighters who have talent but not a ton of it. It wouldn’t shock me if many of these fighters ended up having better careers than several Three Stars, but also wouldn’t shock me if they ended up being the same as the One Star crop. A lot of the successes and failures of this group will come down to the divisions they compete in and the matchups they get.
For instance, Cristian Perez isn’t the best athlete, but he clearly has talent, and at 27 years old, there’s plenty of time to develop. But he’s not the most offensively focused fighter, and lightweight is a very tough division to climb the ranks in.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Lorenco showed significantly less talent than Perez—he fought like a wild Todd Duffee—but heavyweight is dreadful, and having moderate athleticism and skill might be enough to carry him far.
The big name from this group is, of course, Luis Hernandez, who already made his UFC debut with a submission win over Sedriques Dumas in September. Hernandez is a fine fighter, but he’s nothing special in that regard. However, he has a ton of personality, and that might lead to a decent UFC career. He’s basically the new Julian Marquez.
Three Stars
Adam Darby, Callum Connor, Christian Natividad, Damian Piwowarczyk, Douglas da Lapa, Igor Cavalcanti, Isaac Moreno, Jaden Ortega, Mayton Perea, Martin Kozak, Nick Galanti, Sal Everett
The Three Stars are where we really start getting to the meat of things. One- and Two-Star prospects are fighters who probably won’t see double-digit bouts inside the octagon, while Three Stars have a good shot at long and productive careers. Yes, every fighter dreams of challenging for a belt, but most of them don’t. There’s nothing wrong with being Court McGee.
Take Adam Darby. Darby is a 27-year-old welterweight who spent his entire career in Cage Warriors. He has significant amateur experience, has beaten real pro opposition, is huge for the weight class, and seems to be a solid all-around fighter. That’s the bones for success. But Darby also lacks athleticism for welterweight, and also might not have a ton of room to grow technically. It’s significantly more likely he turns into Sam Patterson than Ian Machado Garry, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Same for Damian Piwowarczyk, who has a ton of high-level experience in KSW, but he’s basically a finished product right now, and that finished product is more along the lines of an action fighter than a top 15 guy.
Douglas da Lapa, on the other hand, is far from a finished product. On Week 10, he showed a John Lineker-esque devotion to swinging huge hooks to the body, but he also showed that he doesn’t have Lineker’s chin, nearly getting finished in the first. Da Lapa is the kind of prospect who could go either way, and it will largely depend on whether he gets favorable matchmaking or learns to value defense.
But the big name from this crop of fighters is obviously Sal Everett. The UFC employee who earned a contract is far from the best prospect this season, but given the reception he got from the fans in Las Vegas, and the obvious affinity that everyone at the UFC has for him, it seems extremely likely that Everett is going to get highly favorable matchmaking in his career, and that goes a long way.
Four Stars
Now we’re cooking with gas. The Four Stars are the prospects with the upside to be real players in the UFC, and as such, I’ll give each a quick blurb with the closest fighter comp I can come up with. To note, these are not ranked within the tier.
Aieza Bertolso — Bertolso had an extensive amateur career and fights like it; she’s experienced but still needs refinement. She’s big for 115 pounds and has crafty grappling that takes advantage of her length. | Gillian Robertson
Alvi Dasuyev — A ton of experience for only being 24 years old, Dasuyev has good eyes in the pocket and good power, which he uses in combination. | Said Nurmagomedov, but better
George Staines — Staines had one of the coolest knockouts on Contender Series, scoring the first slam KO in the history of the show, but he was a known prospect even before that, competing in notable regional organizations and racking up a quality record. He’s a good (not great) athlete with well-rounded skills, who seems like a cross between his teammates, Paddy Pimblett and Luke Riley.
Marcos Degli — Degli is extremely athletic, even for the 125-pound division. He’s quick and powerful, with rock-solid grappling and powerful hooks. He needs work to develop a more layered striking game, but he has a lot of tools. | Deiveson Figueiredo
Modestino Rodrigues — A former K1 kickboxer, Rodrigues is only 22 years old, and he ran through his Contender Series opponent. Obviously, his game is built around his striking, and given how much success K-1 and Glory kickboxers have had transitioning to MMA, he’s worth keeping an eye on. | Dustin Jacoby
Piero Guaylupo — Guaylupo nearly made the Five Star list because if you show me a 21-year-old with this much heart, it’s hard not to envision them as a future title challenger. That being said, Guaylupo is still so young and has so much development to do; it’s safer to put him here. He’s shoe leather tough and brings a relentless, body-hitting, forward pressure that will be tough to deal with for many lightweights, though, even if he never adds any tools. | John Lineker
Quentin Pasley — Pasley is already booked for his first UFC fight, taking on Junior Tafa at UFC 335, and he’ll probably win. Pasley is extremely raw with only four professional fights under his belt, but he’s got the sort of natural fighting ability and meanness that portends big things. | Young Jon Jones
Roque Conceicao — Conceicao lost to elite flyweight prospect Imanol Rodriguez on Season 9 of Contender Series, but made good this time around and showed he’s a good prospect in his own right, with narrow but effective striking and a tricky grappling game. | Charles Oliveira
Silvestre Sanchez — A classic bully fighter. Not the best athlete, but he’s a hoss in there, and can impose his will. Plus, he’s got big power. | Josh Emmett
Smilla Sundell — Sundell is only 21 years old and already was the ONE Muay Thai champion. She’s not a great athlete, but she’s dogged, and at women’s bantamweight, if she can improve at all, she’ll probably fight for the title one day. | Less athletic Carli Judice
Anthony Wint — While I don’t actually think Wint is the best of this crop of prospects, he’s certainly the one with most eyeballs on him at this point. Wint is a former NFL player, and he’s already picked up two wins in the UFC, mostly on the back of raw power and athleticism. He’s undersized for heavyweight, but the division is so bad that it may not even matter, and it’s very easy to see Wint putting together a fast run up the division just like Josh Hokit did.
Five Stars
And we come, at last, to the cream of the crop. These are, in my estimation, the best prospects to come out of Season 10 of Contender Series, and I expect big things from each of them. For reference, these eight fighters ARE ranked in order from lowest to highest.
Sean Clancy — The 23-year-old Scottish prospect has been a fighter to watch for some time, winning an interim Cage Warriors title before getting his opportunity on Contender Series. And there’s a reason people are high on Clancy: he’s good. While still a little raw, Clancy is a long southpaw with good footwork and good eyes. He’s also big for the weight class and has the necessary mean streak to be a top prospect. | Jalin Turner
Ronald Humphrey — With only five fights under his belt, Humphrey is still incredibly raw, but the talent he’s shown is undeniable. He’s all power and fire, and he maximizes his length in the striking until he can get takedowns and go to work. He’s also got the kind of personality that could get him a lot of love from the fans. | Jacobe Smith
Bilal Hasan — Everyone who knew anything about regional MMA knew that it was ridiculous that Hasan fought on Contender Series in the first place. The former CFFC flyweight champion has been UFC-ready for a long time, and his highlight-reel win in his UFC debut in August only proved it. Hasan has a flashy, dynamic striking attack and a ferocious killer instinct. Flyweight has suddenly become deep with talent, but he will be right there among them in the coming years. | Lone’er Kavanagh
Mateus Soares — Soares rocks. He’s only 22 years old and already has 14 pro MMA fights. He also looks like a killer, blending elite athleticism with an explosive, aggressive style. Soares is far from a finished product, but he has all the tools to build something special, and it’s simply a matter of development for him. | Young Jose Aldo
Akbar Abdullaev — Of all the fighters who have ever come through Contender Series, Abdullaev is the most UFC-ready. He’s like if the UFC made Salahdine Parnasse go through Contender Series for some reason. The man should have been fighting for the ONE Championship title, but contract disputes took some time from him. Now he’s in the UFC, and he should be fighting top 15 competition sooner rather than later.
Simply put, Abdullaev can do it all, and does so at a high level. He’s got dynamite in his hands, and somehow can put on an absurd pace, all while presenting serious danger at every turn. Plus, he’s never gone to a decision. He’s a combination of Shavkat Rakhmonov and Petr Yan.
I can’t wait to see him fighting the best guys at 155 pounds.
